Lions Sign OLB DeAndre Levy To A Four-Year, $33.72M Extension

Update:

Ian Rapoport reports that DeAndre Levy‘s four-year extension with the Lions is worth $33.72 million ($8.43 million per year) and includes $20 million guaranteed.

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that the Lions and OLB DeAndre Levy have reached an agreement on a long-term contract extension.

• Rand Getlin reports that Levy receives a four-year contract.

Lions GM Martin Mayhew had made it clear that they wanted to get a long-term deal in place with Levy before the start of the regular season, so it appears as though this deal came together fairly quickly.

“The guy’s an impact player, so we definitely want to keep him on our defense,” Mayhew said, via the Detroit Free Press. “His leadership is also excellent and professional in every sense of the word, so he has a lot of value to us and he’s one of our own guys so we want to definitely keep him.”

It will be interesting to see what kind of money Levy was able to secure in this deal, given that the Buccaneers and OLB Lavonte David are likely to use this in their own negotiations.

Levy, 28, is coming off of a breakout season for Detroit and is, arguably, the Lions best defensive player now that they’ve lost DT Ndamukong Suh to the Dolphins. He had another year remaining on his three-year, $9.75 million contract that included $3 million guaranteed.

In 2014, Levy recorded 151 tackles, 2.5 sacks, one interception, five pass defenses and a safety for the Lions over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 3 outside linebacker in 4-3 defense out of 40 qualifying players.